“Wow,” Emma said.
Keira laughed silently and offered, “I think it’s your turn, by the way.”
“My turn for what?”
“To fall asleep on me.” She laughed and rolled over on her back. “I’m exhausted, so there’s no way you’re not. Lie down.” She moved her arm and watched Emma’s naked form slide against her body, pressing her face into Keira’s neck and wrapping an arm and then a leg over Keira’s body. “This feels nice.”
“Yes, it does,” Emma answered, and that was the last thing they said to one another before they both fell asleep.
◆◆◆
The following morning was much more interesting than the normal mornings around Emma’s apartment. Even compared to the last couple ones Keira stayed over. When she woke Wednesday morning, she was pleasantly sore and not well rested. She considered those two things to be a good combination, but also things that would not make her workday any easier. She felt Keira wrapped around her from behind but had no time to truly appreciate that they were skin on skin because her alarm rang out that annoying daily sound. Keira squeezed her harder as Emma turned off the ringing and then slid away entirely. Wordlessly, she rolled and stood before moving to Emma’s side of the bed and pulling her up. Emma didn’t say anything either because it seemed wrong somehow to interrupt this experience with words. Keira kissed her on the cheek and then on her lips. She took her hand and walked her to the bathroom where she turned on the shower to warm up and took out both of their toothbrushes.
Emma just watched as she applied toothpaste to each and passed her one. Keira brushed her teeth. Emma followed suit, finishing right after. Keira kissed her on the lips again and left the bathroom. For a moment, Emma wasn’t sure what she should do. She heard Keira in the kitchen, and a moment after she’d rooted through something, Emma heard the coffeemaker. Keira was making them coffee. She smiled and lowered her head, shaking it side to side, wondering how she’d managed to find this woman. Keira returned and looked at her like she was being weird, but she still said nothing. She pulled Emma toward the shower and climbed in before her, pulling her in alongside her.
At first, they cleaned one another in silence. Emma loved the feeling of Keira’s hands over her skin, lathering her with soap and then washing it away for her, taking all the care to make sure Emma was clean. Soon, Emma’s breathing quickened though, because Keira in the shower, with water bouncing off the glistening skin, caused her to nearly tremble with need. Emma wanted something she hadn’t had last night. It seemed wrong to break the comfortable silence between them by asking. She leaned in to kiss Keira. She’d check this way. She’d ask Keira for permission without words. Keira kissed her back, placing both hands around Emma’s neck, pulling her in tighter. Emma moved her carefully against the back wall of the shower. Keira spread her legs in preparation.
Emma slid a thigh between Keira’s and pressed into her while Keira returned the favor. So, Keira had no problem with shower sex. Emma smirked into Keira’s neck at that thought. Then she reached down, stopping Keira’s thigh in mid-slide, and tapped Keira’s leg. Keira didn’t seem to understand at first, but Emma took a small step back and knelt down in front of her, enjoying the cascading water falling down her back. Keira smiled and moved her left leg as wide as the shower would allow.
Emma moved into her, applying wet kisses to hot, wet skin. She started at Keira’s abdomen and moved to her hips, her thighs, and then right above her center, right above the light-colored curls she’d been desperate to touch with her mouth since feeling them with her fingers the night before. Her lips kissed the inside of both tanned thighs again before she used her fingers to get her the access she wanted. She dragged a tongue from Keira’s entrance to the top of those curls. Keira gasped. Her hand went immediately to Emma’s head. Emma sucked and lapped and kissed until Keira seemed to be struggling to stand. Emma took her hand and lifted Keira’s leg to get her to place it on the side of the bathtub. This helped Keira stand but also served another purpose. Emma had more access now. She could slide her fingers inside with ease while continuing to enjoy the taste of Keira and the feel of her in her mouth. She wanted to tell Keira that she tasted so good but decided that was cliché. She could show her how much she enjoyed having her like this by bringing Keira to orgasm. She renewed her focus on curling her fingers in time with the sucking motion she was applying generously to Keira’s clit.
When Keira seemed impossibly close to coming, Emma pulled her fingers out entirely. Keira seemed to almost sigh with disappointment, but Emma licked her up and down and pushed them back inside. She thrust rapidly while she flicked Keira’s clit in a new way, hoping the different and new sensation would push her over, which it did. Keira’s hand on Emma’s head pushed Emma’s mouth closer to her. Keira’s clit became her entire focus as she worked, making the explosion last as long as possible. When Keira dropped her leg back down and pulled lightly on Emma’s hair to get her to stop, Emma knew she’d accomplished her task.
Keira’s breathing was ragged. Her head was back against the shower wall. Emma stood, kissed her neck and grasped a perfect breast in one hand, twisting the nipple lightly. She could touch this woman all day. She could touch her forever. She moved so she could pull a nipple – erect from arousal – into her mouth, and moved her hand back between Keira’s legs. She wanted more. Keira stopped her hand and held onto it, bringing it up between them and kissing it.
“Later,” she whispered.
“Now,” Emma objected.
Keira smiled back at her, kissed her deeply and slowly, and moved them so they could change positions.
“My turn now. Your turn later,” she explained, and Emma felt her fingers get to work.
CHAPTER 23
“Hey, guys,” Emma greeted after opening her apartment door. “I’m almost ready. One sec.” She turned to grab her jacket.
“Can we at least come in for a minute and see your place?” Summer asked. “Who taught you manners?”
“Sum, you could at least say hello before you pick on the woman,” Lena added. “Hey, Emma.” She entered and pulled Emma into a hug, which Emma returned after setting her jacket down.
“It’s great to see familiar faces,” Emma told both of them. And it was great.
“Hey there.” Summer laughed and pulled Emma in for a hug. “Sorry, I spent all day with my dad. He was not the one that taught me manners.” She turned to Lena. “To answer your question.”
“Please, your dad has manners,” Lena returned and placed a hand on the small of Summer’s back.
“It’s true,” Summer agreed. “I spent way too much time with my brother growing up. Anyway, where are we going, Miss Colton? And where is Miss Worthy?” Summer asked. “I’ve not been looking forward to this for two days.”
“Me too,” Lena joined in.
“We can all be civil, right?” Emma asked them both. “I know she hit on your girlfriend at the time, Lena. I know she hit on you, and now she and I are together. I hit on you too, and there was that time–” Emma tried to get out the confusion that was these interwoven relationships.
“I was there. Don’t need the replay,” Summer insisted with big eyes.
“I wasn’t. I really don’t want or need the replay,” Lena added. “Can we just get me a glass of wine?”
“Something stronger, maybe?” Summer suggested. “I’m definitely getting something stronger.”
“We’re going to a place Keira knows. I’m still figuring the city out, but she’s a master. I guess it comes with the territory of being an event planner.”
“And where is the event planner?” Lena asked and looked around the room.
“Oh, this is my apartment.” Emma suddenly remembered. “Literally. This is it,” she added for effect. “She’s meeting us there. She was close to it for a meeting this afternoon.”
“Good. You can explain this whole thing to us,” Summer said. “Like how the two of you met and how you two are now dating.”
; “We’re not just dating,” Emma revealed.
“What’s that mean?” Summer asked.
“She’s my girlfriend, Summer,” Emma stated with a smile. “I’m totally crazy about her.”
“Yeah?” Lena expressed. “That’s great, Emma.”
“It is pretty great,” Summer agreed.
“We should go,” Emma encouraged.
She hated that she felt embarrassed by her small space, but she did. Summer and Lena were both wealthy, incredibly so. Lena had grown up with money. Summer had earned her wealth alongside her brother, but they had more money than they’d known what to do with. They’d started their own venture capital firm to help companies that needed funding. Summer was also back in school, earning her MBA in Chicago. Lena still had a day job at O’Shea’s, which was a growing grocery store chain in the Midwest.
◆◆◆
Keira was nervous. She hadn’t seen Summer since the day she’d asked her out. Just thinking about the fact that she’d flirted with her relentlessly while they planned a tech convention was enough to make her want to cancel at the last minute, but she didn’t. She stood outside Val’s Tavern and tried to breathe in and out, focusing on the sensation of the oxygen entering her body and the carbon dioxide leaving it. How was it possible that the only woman to truly interest her was friends with Summer Taft, the woman that once turned her down? How was it that that woman, the one that interested her, had had sex with Summer Taft? That might be the part that irked Keira the most. Summer had slept with her girlfriend. Sure, it was a long time ago, and there was nothing between them. Keira would be meeting Summer’s fiancée tonight, after all. Emma was her girlfriend, but still. Just knowing someone else had touched Emma that way was hard, meeting the woman that had supplied those touches was even worse. She considered for a moment what Emma might have been feeling when she’d met Kellan, knowing the two of them had slept together and more than once. She cringed as another thought entered her mind. If things continued like this, Keira would one day have to meet Hailey, Emma’s Hailey; the Hailey that changed Emma’s entire life and gave her most of her firsts.
Keira had chosen Val’s for the meeting because she knew both the owner and Indy, one of the bartenders. She’d chosen Val’s for those reasons but also because the owner owed her a favor. She was going to cash in on that favor tonight. She wanted to be impressive. She wanted Emma’s friends to like her and for the awkwardness between them to disappear. She hoped that by buying a round or two would help grease the wheels. She just couldn’t afford a round or two, so she’d cash in that favor and have their drinks comped without the group knowing. She’d called earlier in the day to arrange for a table in the back corner, which was a little more private and quiet than most, and made sure they’d get their free drinks tonight. She exhaled one more time and opened the door.
“Oh, hey.” There was a woman just on the other side of the door, apparently trying to get out while Keira was trying to get in.
“Summer?”
“Keira, hey.” She put the phone that had been to her ear down. “Oh, sorry.” She picked it back up. “Hey, can you give me a second?” she asked into the phone and after receiving an answer, apparently, she hit a button on the phone to likely mute herself, giving Keira a smile. “Sorry, they’re inside. I just got a call I had to take, and it’s loud in there.”
“No problem.” Keira looked past Summer. “Emma’s in there?”
“She’s with Lena, my fiancée. They’re in the back. The bartender told us we had a table reserved.”
“Good. I’ll just…” She pointed past Summer into the bar.
“Oh, right. I’ll be right in.” Summer pointed at the phone.
They moved around one another awkwardly until Keira was inside and the door closed behind her.
“Well done, Keira,” she chastised herself under her breath and made her way toward the bar to say hello to Indy.
“Hey, Keira,” Indy said first as Keira approached.
The bar was a high-class lesbian bar in the city that catered to the professional types. Indy was the most popular bartender. Keira noted the four women standing off to the side, waiting for her to mix their drinks.
“Hi, Indy.” She gave a small wave.
“You haven’t been here in a while.” Indy leaned over the bar toward her, ignoring the other women in need of alcohol and her attention. “Or at least you haven’t been in when I’m on shift.”
“Sorry, I’ve been busy,” she offered in vague explanation.
“I heard from Barry that you were coming in tonight. I thought you might be interested in the special. It is cucumber based. You like that kind of thing, right?” Indy asked with a wink.
“Let me go check on my group first, see if they need anything. And I’ll let you know.”
“Tomorrow night, I’m working After Dark. Will I see you there?” she asked before Keira could head off.
“No, probably not.”
“I can get you a ticket. It’s not a problem. I’m actually training a new guy, so I’m not working a full shift. We can hang out toward the end.”
“I appreciate that offer, but I can’t,” she answered the persistent woman.
“When are you ever just going to say yes to me, Keira Worthy? I’ve been asking you out forever.” She laughed.
“Never, if I have anything to say about it.” Emma was suddenly next to Keira. “Hey.” She smiled at her and kissed her cheek. “We’re in the back. Summer just had to take a call.”
“I know. I saw her on my way in.” She turned back to Indy. “Indy, you remember Emma,” she stated. “My girlfriend,” she added and took Emma’s hand.
“Oh,” Indy said and then looked to the line of women waiting for her. “Sorry, my bad. I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay,” Keira told her. “Do you guys need drinks?” she asked Emma.
“We’re good. Just get yourself something.” Emma gave her hand a squeeze. “And did you arrange something for tonight? They told us that table was reserved for us?”
“I called the owner. Barry owed me. No big deal.”
“Thank you.” Emma leaned in and pressed her lips gently to Keira’s. “You didn’t have to do anything special for them.”
“It’s not for them specifically,” Keira explained as they started walking back toward the booth she’d requested. “It was for you and for me too, I guess.”
“So, you and this Barry guy are even now? You called in a perfectly good favor for VIP service for me and my friends?”
“Barry is Patricia Barry. She’s the owner of this place. I introduced her to her partner. They’ve been together for four years now. I think I might be able to get a little more out of her if I need to later.” She winked at Emma as they arrived.
“Keira Worthy, this is Lena Tanner.”
Lena stood and reached out a hand for Keira to shake.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Lena shook Keira’s hand a little harder than was necessary, Keira felt, but smiled nonetheless.
“You too.” She let go. “And I should probably get this out of the way – I am sorry about hitting on your girlfriend,” Keira said. “Your fiancée now, I hear. Congratulations,” she offered. “I swear, I had no idea.”
“It’s okay.” Lena laughed out. “It was a long time ago.”
“Oh, and, obviously, you know Summer Taft.” Emma motioned to Summer who approached the table, tucking her phone into her pocket.
“Hi.” Summer sat down next to Lena. “And we ran into each other out there,” she said to the group and leaned into Lena to kiss her on the cheek. “Everything’s okay.”
“Good.”
“Was something wrong?” Keira asked as Emma motioned for her to slide into the booth.
“I’m going to go get you a drink,” Emma said.
“I can ask–”
“Yeah, I don’t think I want you anywhere near Indy right now.” Emma lifted both eyebrows and Keira rolled her eyes at her. “Be right back.”
“Okay.” Keira turned back to Lena and Summer. “So, you were saying?”
“My dad had a bad heart attack a while ago. He had a check-up with the doctor yesterday. It’s one of the reasons we’re in town. He just called to let me know everything was okay.”
“That’s good to hear.” Keira tried to relax by placing her purse against the wall next to her and leaning back into the comfort of the seat, but relaxation would be difficult for her tonight.
“Well, this is fun,” Summer let out after a moment of silence between them.
Lena laughed loudly into her drink. Summer turned to Lena to watch her laugh and smiled at her. That was it. That was the look. That was how Emma looked at her sometimes.
“She already apologized to me for hitting on you when you guys met,” Lena informed Summer.
“Should I apologize for the thing with Emma?” Summer looked to Keira.
“Oh, no.” Keira waved it off. “From what I hear, your group of friends is rather incestuous. Is that the right word?”
“Ah, Emma’s told you the story?” Lena answered. “Yeah, I guess that’s the word I’d use.”
“She and I, though – it wasn’t anything. You know that, right?” Summer leaned across the table. “I was in a place. She was in a place. But it didn’t mean anything.”
“Well, that’s just what a girl likes to hear.” Emma came back from the bar with what looked like a cucumber-based drink in a martini glass.
“You know what I meant,” Summer told her.
“I know.” Emma sat down. “Indy insisted you’d like this. I thought about arguing with her just on principle, but she is the professional, and three other women at the bar recommended it. I gave in.”
“You did hear the part where I turned her down, right?” Keira asked her, placing her arm over the back of the booth around Emma. “Twice since I’ve met you and a million times before that?”
“Twice?” Emma asked, turning to her.
“Once at After Dark last week and tonight,” Keira replied.
“Oh, that was fun for me watching her hit on you while we were on our first date,” Emma returned sarcastically.
San Francisco Series- Complete Edition Page 23